1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscopic image display system for displaying an endoscopic image or the like already recorded in a recording apparatus onto a high definition monitor (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9chi-vision monitorxe2x80x9d).
2. Description of the Related Art Statement
An endoscope enables, as is well known, the observation of the inside of an organism, etc., that cannot be directly observed by eye, and is widely used in medical and other fields for the purposes of observation and diagnosis. In recent years the use of, electronic endoscopes have spread, which allows an image of the object of observation to be converted into an electrical signal by an imaging means such as a CCD so that the image can be observed with a monitor.
Such electronic endoscopes have an advantage in that images can be easily recorded and reproduced. With an endoscope of this type, therefore, it is possible to perform a diagnosing by referring to images such as those which have previously been recorded. In this way, a more accurate diagnosis can be given.
To this end, a system has been hitherto known, in which an endoscopic image is retrieved from a recording apparatus by a retrieval apparatus (consisting of a personal computer or the like), and then displayed for diagnosing, etc. During a retrieval operation employing this system, the user performs a predetermined retrieval procedure by moving a cursor on a screen for retrieval operations, which screen is on a monitor for the personal computer and which is now being watched by the user. Then, the user recognizes the image resulting from the retrieval on another monitor for displaying an endoscopic image.
However, with the above-described conventional display system, in order to effect a retrieval, the user has to perform a retrieval procedure while he watches the screen of the monitor connected with the personal computer, and, in order to observe the thus retrieved image, the user has to watch the screen of the other monitor for displaying an endoscopic image. Thus, the display system has poor operability.
A possible means to overcome this drawback is a display system capable of displaying a plurality of images. When such a system is to be used in a diagnosis utilizing an endoscopic image, the system is desired to have the function of displaying a plurality of images with a minimum reduction in the image resolution.
However, since display has hitherto been effected on a monitor having a limited level of resolution, problems arise in that the resolution of the endoscopic images lowers, and that the number of images that can be displayed is inevitably limited. Further, with the conventional display system, it has been difficult to simultaneously display on a single screen both a display image of a computer (serving as a retrieval apparatus) and an endoscopic image.
An object of the present invention is to provide an endoscopic image display system that is capable of displaying a plurality of images with a minimum reduction in the image resolution, and is thus capable of allowing an image for an operation for effecting a retrieval from a retrieval means to be simultaneously displayed on a monitor displaying an endoscopic image. In consequence, the system enables all of: a retrieval operation; the recognition of a retrieved endoscopic image; and a diagnosing through an endoscopic image to be performed while a single screen is being watched.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an endoscopic image display system that is capable of allowing both an observation image obtained by an endoscope and a recorded endoscopic image comprising a still image to be displayed on the same screen, the system also allowing an image for a retrieval-effecting operation to be simultaneously displayed on that same screen. The system thus enables a target recorded image to be retrieved while endoscopic observation is being performed so that comparison of an endoscopic image and diagnosis through the endoscopic image are easily performed.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an endoscopic image display system that is capable of displaying a plurality of images on the same screen without reducing the resolution, and also capable of displaying an image having high-resolution information on that same screen without reducing the image quality.
According to the present invention, an endoscopic image display system comprises: a recording apparatus for recording an endoscopic image signal; retrieval means connected with the recording apparatus so as to retrieve an image recorded in the recording apparatus, the retrieval means generating a retrieval-character image signal for an operation to effect such a retrieval; a hi-vision monitor for displaying an endoscopic image from the recording apparatus which has been retrieved by the retrieval means; and image display control means for outputting to the hi-vision monitor a retrieval-character image signal from the retrieval means, and for controlling the outputting of a plurality of image signals in such a manner that a retrieval-character image is displayed together with the endoscopic image by the monitor on the same screen.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become fully apparent from the following description.